


Something to Prove

by notcool



Series: Show Me Your Darkness (Sanders Sides Fantasy AU) [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angel Morality | Patton Sanders, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fantasy AU, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Romantic?, Siren Logic | Logan Sanders, Vampire Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, as for the relationships idk tbh, i have no clue, i just really love them okay, like is this platonic?, probably ooc but well too late now, sorcerer Virgil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26114722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcool/pseuds/notcool
Summary: As the only human in their little group, Virgil doesn't like being the fragile one, the one that they have to protect from everything. Just for once he'd like to protect one of them for a change... and when he finally gets his chance, even Virgil himself wasn't expecting how well he would be able to play the role of defender.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton, LAMP - Relationship
Series: Show Me Your Darkness (Sanders Sides Fantasy AU) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980931
Comments: 14
Kudos: 249





	Something to Prove

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chillout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chillout/gifts).



> Saw a prompt on tumblr that was basically "fantasy AU where Roman is a vampire, Patton is an angel, Logan is a siren and Virgil's a sorcerer" and welp here we are kids. Got the prompt off this tumblr: https://sandersstuffprompts.tumblr.com/
> 
> Dedicated to chillout who yelled at me after hearing I'd written a sanders sides fic and honestly like just why not they are good child

_ The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him. _

_ \- G.K. Chesterton _

Virgil may have been born with magic, but otherwise he was still very, very human, and it was something he had never quite come to terms with.

He was well aware of how his family, all very not human, treaded lightly around him, guarded him like he would break if he was too deeply immersed in the outside world.

It was sweet, it really was. But sometimes it was... too much.

Logan said he accompanied Virgil on trips to the city because he enjoyed getting out of the house, and while there was some truth to that, Virgil knew it was more that the others were afraid of what would happen if Virgil ran into the wrong people without Logan's silver tongue to get him out unharmed.

Likewise Roman trailed along behind him on his midnight scavenging for magical plants, bright eyes on the treetops as they walked, little chirps sometimes escaping the undead prince in response to the chatter of the forest bats.

And Patton... the soft, heavenly being he was, rarely left the home, his mere presence a deterrent to any ill-doers who might approach. He kept watch over their little safe haven, but while it was technically for all their protection, Virgil knew Logan and Roman were more than capable of defending themselves, while he was just a liability.

It stung, sometimes more than others. Sure, he was human, but he wasn't helpless! He was a sorcerer! And a powerful one at that!

He had ignored the bitter feeling, pushing it down, reminding himself that they did it all because they loved him, and he could hardly blame them for that. But it was... getting harder.

And then there was the bandit incident, an event that sent the delicate balance of love and bitterness tumbling off the rails... just, not with the result he'd honestly expected.

Virgil and Logan were riding out to the city, nearly a full days’ journey from their isolated abode, to restock their fabric and food stores.

They had left at dawn, and it was nearly noon when the young mare abruptly stopped, ears pricked.

Virgil frowned, leaning to pat their steed's neck. "Everything okay girl?"

It was Logan who answered in the form of his lithe arms stiffening around Virgil's waist, whole posture going rigid where just moments before he had been lazily leaning into Virgil's back.

Virgil licked his lips slowly, fingers grasping at the base of the mare's mane, a dark tendril of anxiety curled tight in his chest. "Logan?" He whispered.

The woods were still. Too still. What was that whistling sound?

There was a shout of pain, and suddenly the ground was crashing towards him.

His head was spinning. Virgil vaguely thought he'd seen an arrow coming towards him, but he didn't recall getting hit. His vision was spotty, but he could see their mount rearing in panic and fleeing back down the woodland trail.

Cloaked figures were emerging from the trees, weaving soundlessly around each other like ants surrounding a fallen piece of bread.

He couldn't see very well, but even still Virgil thought their heavy black cloaks looked too expensive to belong to a troupe of highway bandits, their movements too practiced, their swords - when had they drawn swords? - far too high in quality.

What did they want with him and Logan... Logan!

Virgil forced his body to move, sitting up and twisting to find that Logan hadn't moved from where he'd fallen, legs tangled with Virgil's, an arrow burrowed deep in his right shoulder.

"L...Logan?" Virgil choked hoarsely. "Logan look at me."

Logan didn't respond, eyelids fluttering weakly, breath coming out in desperate pants.

"Logan!"

A rough hand grabbed at the back of his shirt, jerking Virgil back.

Everything was spinning. Virgil thrashed against the cloaked man dragging him away, earning little more than an annoyed grunt when he managed to elbow the guy in the gut.

He was dropped a few meters away, and the man left, not seeming to care about Virgil.

Mistake.

Virgil forced his arms to move once again, shoving himself into a sitting position, eyes twitching as he struggled to concentrate on the circle of men blocking Logan from view.

What to do? The men seemed human enough. At least they hadn't shown otherwise. And they'd shot Logan before moving in, meaning they were intimidated by him, meaning... meaning...

Virgil didn't have time to think it through. The seconds were ticking by and they could be killing Logan if they hadn't already and-

There was a blinding flash of violet light, and it took Virgil a moment to realize he'd raised his hand. Men were screaming. There was a numbing tingling in Virgil's fingers, and the feeling was quickly working its way up his arms.

Why was he so dizzy? Was he supposed to hear colours? When did he lie back down?

Stupid, stupid! What was he thinking, using up all his energy in one blast? If he'd missed any with that blast he now had no defense. No way to protect Logan...

Logan. Was Logan alright? Well, obviously not, he'd been shot, but he wasn't... wasn't...

No, he couldn't be.

Virgil managed to flip onto his front, stomach churning at the motion, forcing him to bite his lip to keep it from revolting entirely. He somehow got his arms underneath him, and dragged himself around with his elbows, shaking his head as he tried to take in the aftermath of his attack.

The men in cloaks were lying at varying distances in an arc out from Logan's limp form, bodies crackling with violet energy.

Logan...

Virgil dragged himself to Logan's side, pressing a trembling hand to the siren's neck in search of seemingly nonexistent life.

_Thump thump. Thump thump._

Virgil thought he might have started crying. He wasn't sure - it was so hard to see clearly already.

What now?

Virgil could feel his own adrenaline plummeting, and the drain on his magical reserves combined with everything else would surely have him unconscious soon.

_I have to do something. What if one of those guys get back up? What if there's more on the way? What if what if what if..._

They needed to get home. Back to Patton's warm, healing aura, to Roman's strong arms and soft singing.

But Virgil's vision was starting to go dark, and there was no way to get home like this.

He fumbled to grasp at one of Logan's limp, blood-covered hands, clinging tightly to it as he eyes and pressed his face into the back of Logan's neck.

_I will protect you. I won't let anything hurt you._

\-------

"...Virgil? Virgil honey, can you hear me? That's right, Virge, I'm right here. Can you open your eyes?"

Virgil knew that voice. He wanted to reach out to it and get wrapped up in it, wanted to suffocate in the gentle melody of that wonderfully familiar voice, but he couldn't seem to move. Everything was so heavy...

"Virgil, please." The voice was soft as ever, but was tinged in something... worry? Panic?

It hurt to hear. Virgil didn't want that voice to sound anything but cheerful and loving. It didn't need to ever sound sad. What was so terribly wrong as to paint that magnificent voice with an edge of distress?

"Virgil, please wake up..."

Virgil pried his eyes open, determined to seek out the cause of said distress, and was met with a familiar face blinking tearily at him from roughly a meter away.

"...Patt'n?" He slurred, the angel's hazy aura of light not at all helping him keep the world coloured in the lines.

"Yeah, it's me." Patton smiled, but just like his voice, it was all wrong. It was... scared? No, still not the right word.

"Wha's... goin' on?"

"I need your help, Virge." Patton said, now obviously crying as Virgil's vision returned to him. "I need you to let me in, okay? I can't help you from over here."

Let him in? Into what? They were outside, weren't they? It looked like they were outside. There were trees, silhouetted against the evening sky, taller than usual, almost like the trees along the road to the city...

Road. City. Logan.

Virgil's breath caught in his throat, and he looked down in a panic, finding Logan curled unconscious against him, dried blood stiff around the arrow in his shoulder.

"Lo...Logan!" Virgil looked back to Patton in a panic. "Patton! You have to help Logan! He was shot!"

Patton closed his eyes a moment, wincing slightly. "I know, Virge. I'm trying to help him. I'm trying to help both of you. But I need you to let me in."

"Let you- what? Patton, why are you just sitting there? Help him!"

"Breathe, Virgil." Roman was suddenly kneeling beside Patton, fresh blood splattered across his clothes and dripping from his face. "Breathe and let go. Let everything go. You're safe now. Patton and I won't let anything happen to either of you."

"I... I..."

_You're safe now._

"I... safe..."

"That's right, honey." Patton hummed soothingly. "We're here."

They were here. Everything was okay now.

All at once the air felt thinner. Gravity seemed to lessen its grip ever-so-slightly. Virgil was suddenly very, very tired...

The next thing he knew he was being lifted into Roman's arms, the undead prince cooing softly as he tucked Virgil's head against his strong chest, holding him close and warm and so, so safe...

"That's it love," Roman pressed a kiss to his forehead. "Just rest, little stormcloud."

\-------

Patton had flown home with Logan to tend to his wounds, Roman walking slowly back with Virgil and finally stepping through the door at a little past midnight.

Despite the hours he'd had to shake off the horrible feeling in his stomach, Roman still shuddered remembering how his heart had leapt into his throat when the mare Logan and Virgil had left on hours previously came up the trail alone, exhausted from running the majority of the way in fear.

The stray drops of blood on her haunches - and Logan's blood no less, Roman would know that scent anywhere - had him in a complete panic.

Patton, while distressed himself, was determined to keep a level head, and had decided that it would be better to travel by air than the trail. Roman had wasted no time jumping into the angel's arms, waving impatiently for them to get going.

It hadn't been hard to find them once in the air - a distant clump of trees around the trail was rippling with violet light, the colours all around twisting and curving in towards the apparition.

Roman and Patton had exchanged stunned looks, recognizing the rolling storm of violet as the magic that their Virgil would use to carry around books or firewood or open doors, but... this was on another scale entirely.

As they'd drawn nearer they could both feel the sheer power of the energy radiating up from the light, the impossibly thin claws of an imaginary feline running up and down Roman's arms, making his skin crawl.

From the way they momentarily wobbled in midair, it was obvious Patton felt it too.

Even hovering directly over the light, though, they couldn't see what was happening below - courtesy of the thick treetops.

As they lowered through the canopy, both braced for the worst...

At least a dozen men in dark cloaks and their accompanying swords and bows were sprawled in an arc out from the source of the violet storm: Logan, on his side on the ground, an arrow burrowed deep into his right shoulder, and Virgil...

Virgil was practically glowing. It was nearly blinding trying to look at him, small, unmoving, curled around Logan from behind, an arm over the siren's side to grasp loosely at one of Logan's hands.

Roman had been the first to unfreeze, scrambling from Patton's arms with a cry and racing forwards, to reach out to his loves, to make sure they were still breathing-

"Roman!"

Roman blinked, stars swimming in his eyes as he regained his bearings. How did he get on the ground?

Patton was at his side, helping him up but not really looking at him, eyes glued to Virgil and Logan.

Roman didn't have time to think about it - he ran forward again, and this time caught what happened as he collided with the wall of magic, a dome of sheer energy encasing the unconscious men. Roman could barely register what he'd hit before he was blinking stars from his eyes, once more flat of his back on the forest floor.

"My god." Patton breathed, going as close to the invisible barrier as he dared before kneeling to look in at its charges. "Oh, Virgil... this power..."

Roman stumbled back to his feet. "What the hell? Are you saying Virgil made that thing?"

Patton nodded solemnly, slowly reaching out, the barrier revealing itself in a shine of crackling violet as the angel's fingers brushed its surface.

Patton retracted his hand with a frown, lacing his fingers in his lap to keep from fidgeting. "I... I never knew he contained this kind of power. Roman... he's doing all this... while unconscious. He's constructed an impenetrable field and is keeping it fully functional out of sheer instinct..."

Under any other circumstances, Roman would probably have been star-struck with awe over such a revelation from their little stormcloud, but as things were, he couldn't think over the taste of Logan's blood in the air...

Wait. Logan's blood... _only_ Logan's blood? Confused, Roman licked at the air, but Logan's blood was the only wound he could taste. What had happened to all the humans lying around then?

Roman turned, going to the nearest fallen human and bending over it - his own eyes locked with a very frightened, very _alive_ gaze.

"Patton?" Roman managed, if a bit breathlessly. "These guys aren't dead."

The eyes looking up at him trembled, glassy and unblinking, wet at the corners as if... oh. They weren't blinking because they couldn't.

Swallowing down the sour taste building in his mouth, Roman reached down and, with just his index finger, poked the human's chest.

Violet energy ran over the human's body like electricity running down a copper wire, bright and constricting and unrelenting, feeding off its host rather than being drained by it.

"Patton." Roman said, barely above a whisper. "They aren't injured at all, Patton. He's got them... paralyzed or something."

"It's probably how he's sustaining the barrier." Patton hummed, having never moved from his place right at the edge of the unseen dome. "Draining their lifeforce to keep from depleting his own. I... I'm not even sure he knows he's doing it."

Roman knew there was probably some complicated lore behind such kinds of magic if Patton's awed tone said anything, but right now all he wanted was his magnificent silvertongue and his little stormcloud safe in his arms, to feel them breathing, to hold them close and be able to know for sure that nothing could hurt them.

"So," he said, feeling a bit jumpy with the need to take action. "Theoretically, if I kill these guys, that shiny wall goes away?"

"Well, there is a lot more to it than that, but it would limit the sustainability of the barrier's-"

Roman took that as a yes, claws out and ripping through the paralysed human's throat before Patton could finish his conflicted rambling.

"Oh," Patton said, turning his head to frown as Roman moved to the next human. "Perhaps we should wait since we don't know what kind of effects- alright, alright, but you're getting blood everywhere. I don't really think it is necessary to- oh, I suppose you could just, decapitate them entirely, yes, that's very efficient."

Roman spun to glare at the kneeling angel, licking the sickly sweet blood off his right hand as he reached for another human with his left. "You keep your eyes on our boys, angel, if it bothers you." He shook his head, stepping over the latest body to reach yet another. "It's not like we weren't going to kill the bastards anyway. They attacked one of us. No, two of us!"

Patton bit his lip, but turned away as the fifth human was relieved of their vocal chords, instead choosing to lean down and call softly out to Virgil. Asking the lifeless sorcerer to wake up in that heavenly calming voice of his, sounding simultaneously like the concerned mother he always acted as and the desperate lover he truly was.

Another human dead. Another. Another.

Roman glanced back with each kill, taking note how the dome flickered slightly with each life taken, taking comfort in the proof that he was doing _something_ that mattered.

The last human was dispatched from the land of the living more dramatically than the others, but Roman found it fitting. Also, his temper was not the greatest just then. And the barrier... the barrier was still standing.

He stood there panting over the body a moment, staring blankly at the cavity in their chest where he'd clawed his way in to rip out the heart. The small organ twitched in his hand, still trying to beat.

Patton's voice carried over to him, helping to clear his head. "I know, Virge. I'm trying to help him. I'm trying to help both of you. But I need you to let me in."

"Let you- what?" Roman turned to find Virgil weakly propped up on one elbow, swaying a little as he gave the angel a painfully hopeless look. "Patton, why are you just sitting there? Help him!"

Roman tossed the heart down, crossing to kneel beside Patton. "Breathe, Virgil. Breathe and let go. Let everything go. You're safe now. Patton and I won't let anything happen to either of you."

Virgil looked between them, face pale and desperate. "I... I..." He drew in a long, shuddering breath. "I... safe..."

"That’s right, honey." Patton hummed, leaning as close to the barrier as he could. "We're here."

Virgil just stared at them, apparently trying to process the words. He opened his mouth and closed it a couple times, never making a sound. Then all at once he slumped back to the ground. The air shimmered, and the barrier fell away.

Roman and Patton exchanged a weary glance before both rushing forward, this time unimpeded by any sort of magic.

Roman rolled Virgil onto his back, gently untangling the sorcerer from the wounded siren and brushing his sweaty bangs from his overly pale face.

He and Patton exchanged another look over Logan's shoulder, relieved, but far from happy. They weren't quite there yet.

Patton carefully shifted Logan's unconscious form, gathering the siren into his arms and standing, if a bit unsteadily.

"I'm going to fly Logan back." He said quietly. "This wound doesn't need to wait any longer. Can you get Virge home?"

Roman nodded, and with a soft hum of acknowledgement Patton spread his wings and disappeared through the trees.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there after Patton left. It could have very easily been an hour. Or more. It was safe to say Roman was... well, in shock.

He might have sat there the whole night, but Virgil's eyelids fluttered slightly, a small whine breaking the eerie silence that a dozen human deaths had brought over the forest.

"Oh, Virge..." Roman scooped the sorcerer into his arms, climbing to his feet. Virgil made another small sound of pain that pricked at something deep in Roman's chest. He hugged the man closer, shifting to lean Virgil's head against him, murmuring nonsense under his breath as he nuzzled the sorcerer's feathery hair.

Virgil wriggled a bit, groaning and pressing his face into Roman's chest, but eventually seeming to get comfortable, letting out an exhausted huff and grasping the front of Roman's coat with a small, pale hand.

"That's it, love." Roman pressed a kiss to the sorcerer's forehead, smiling weakly. "Just rest, little stormcloud."

Virgil stayed more or less unconscious the entire way home, only opening his eyes as Roman settled him onto the bed on the opposite side from where Patton was tending to Logan.

"Rom'n..."

Roman sighed and gently uncurled the fingers that had tangled in his sash to keep him from leaving. "It's alright, stormcloud." He promised. "You're home now."

"He most likely just needs sleep." Patton said from his seat on the other side of the bed, pressing a wet cloth to a feverish Logan's forehead. "He used everything he had doing... that."

"Pat'n?" Virgil turned his head, blinking vaguely in Patton's direction. "How... 'ow's Lo'n?"

"He'll be alright, honey." Patton offered Virgil a kind smile, and Virgil seemed satisfied with this, muttering something incoherent and closing his eyes again.

Roman frowned, sitting on the edge of the bed at the sorcerer's hip and taking Virgil's hands in his own. "How... how is Logan?"

Patton made a face. "I didn't lie, Roman. He'll be okay. The arrow was laced with something, but it wasn't potent enough to have a severe effect. Whoever those men were, they knew they were hunting a siren, but obviously didn't have much experience doing so..."

"Yeah, well." Roman's grip tightened around Virgil's fingers. "They aren't going to get any."

"No," Patton agreed.

They were quiet a long minute.

"Patton?"

"Yes?"

"Where the hell did that come from?"

Patton looked up, finding the undead prince's eyes fixed on a sleeping Virgil's face. "I don't know." He said. "But he must have had it in him all along. One doesn't suddenly gain power like that."

Roman shook his head. It was hard to believe even though it had happened just hours ago - hard to acknowledge that the fragile, mortal man slumbering beside him now contained something that mind-numbingly powerful, had contained it for a long time, and just... never let it show.

"How... why did he hide something like that from us?"

"I don't think he did." Patton stood, running his hand through Logan's hair one last time before circling the bed to put a hand on Roman's shoulder. "I think what he did out there was as much a surprise to him as it was to us. I think... I think he underestimated himself as much as we underestimated him."

"But... he's always just... been so... it doesn't make sense!"

"Of course it doesn't." Patton wrapped his arms around Roman's shoulders, resting his chin on top of Roman's head. "We aren't human. We follow the rules of our species. But he... he's human. That's what can make them so dangerous. They don't have rules. They just... do things, sometimes."

Roman snorted, not knowing whether he wanted to laugh or start crying. "That... follows no train of thought, Pat."

"Neither does Virge." Patton pressed a kiss into the top of his head. "Come on, Roman. We got our boys back home safe. We should try and get some sleep too."

Roman gave Virgil's hands a squeeze before settling them carefully on the sorcerer's stomach and finally standing with Patton's tugs on his arm.

The pair was quiet as they got out the spare blankets and made a resting place on the floor so as to not disturb the two in the bed. Quiet as Patton blew out the candles and they nestled into the rough wool of the winter quilt. Quiet as Patton opened his arms in a wordless invitation, and Roman wiggled to cuddle up into the angel's warm chest.

"Roman?" Patton said finally.

"Yeah?"

"They're gonna be okay.”

"I know."

Quiet.

"Patton?"

"Yes?"

"Virgil is, like, a badass."

A sigh. "I know."


End file.
